The present invention generally relates to a facsimile communication method, and more particularly to a facsimile communication method in which a facsimile machine informs a predetermined telephone of the results of the facsimile communication. The present invention further relates to a facsimile machine suitable for the above-mentioned facsimile communication method.
Currently, a facsimile machine is widely used and is provided with enhanced functions. As the functions of a facsimile machine are enhanced, various convenient facsimile communication procedures become available.
In a proposed facsimile communication method, a predetermined telephone provided in a destination (reception side) or a source (transmission side) is informed of the results of the facsimile communication. This method is further described by referring to FIG. 1. When a facsimile communication from a transmitter facsimile machine 31 to a receiver facsimile machine 34 has been completed, the transmitter facsimile machine 31 sends a voice message announcing completion of facsimile communication to a transmission side telephone 32 and a reception side telephone 33, which have been registered in the transmitter facsimile machine 31. Thus, an operator on the transmission side can know when completion of the facsimile transmission occurs through the announced voice message. On the other hand, an operator on the reception side can confirm the reception results through the voice message, and may request retransmission of image information when reception fails.
However, the above-mentioned facsimile communication method has a disadvantage in that the cost of sending the facsimile communication results runs up because the results are sent to both the transmission side telephone 31 and the reception side telephone 33 from the transmitter facsimile machine 31. As the transmission side telephone 32 or the reception side telephone 33 is far from the transmitter facsimile machine 31, the cost of sending the facsimile communication results increases.